Smithsonian will open 'Americans at War' exhibit

SCRIPPS HOWARD
WASHINGTON -- George Washington's flintlock pistol and a robot used by U.S. troops to search caves in Afghanistan.
A barnacle-encrusted bugle from the sunken USS Maine battleship and a bicycle ridden by the North Vietnamese on the Ho Chi Minh trail.
The camouflage uniform that Colin Powell wore during Operation Desert Storm.
These relics of America's military heritage and hundreds more will debut on Veterans Day, when the Smithsonian Institution opens a sprawling new exhibit titled "The Price of Freedom: Americans at War."
Permanent exhibit
With more than 800 original artifacts packed into 18,200 square feet of display space in the National Museum of American History, the permanent exhibit will examine the pivotal place 16 major conflicts have occupied in America's collective past and present.
"This exhibition will give visitors a comprehensive and memorable overview of America's military experience and the central role it has played in our national life," said Brent Glass, director of the history museum.
"It's not our words, but the words of those who lived these experiences that tell the story," David Allison, exhibit project director, said.